NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3 - Time Travel
It is said that the speed of light is the fastest speed known to humanity, while time is a comprehensive physical quantity that defines the states of motion and stillness of all things.
On Blue Planet, there has long been a legend: when a person can surpass the speed of light and achieve a certain momentum, they may be able to reverse the flow of time or even travel through space and time.
So, what if the reverse were true? If someone could traverse the torrent of time, could they witness the speed of light?
On the night when the meteor shower descended, no one knew that a wisp of soul from Blue Planet was swept away by the torrent of time, drifting into the vast expanse of the cosmos.
It languidly floated within the river of time, accompanying the speed of trillions of light, journeying alongside the sun, moon, and stars, blissfully unaware of its destination.
Eventually, this fragment of consciousness awakened from a long slumber, as if it had traversed the ancient wilderness, slowly descending and finally drawn toward a familiar point.
In a breath, in a moment, a wisp of soul returned, and a flower of life bloomed anew.
In the year 9983 of the eighth star calendar era, a region within the central continental plate of the permanent star system, designated as Planet 732, was also experiencing a meteor shower.
However, the people here had long since grown accustomed to such scenes and did not linger because of them.
In a certain apartment building, the lights in one household suddenly turned on, and the room fell into silence, with no sounds heard for a long time.
Detecting no movement from living beings, the automatic sensory lights quickly turned off again. After a while, a low whimpering sound began to echo in the room, like that of a small animal, confused and somewhat bewildered, as if it didn’t quite understand the situation.
In the darkness, a pair of eyes slowly opened. In an instant, a strange glow flashed across the pupils, which quickly flowed out from the corners of the eyes.
“Ugh… that hurts,” the person lying on the floor quickly reacted, instinctively groaning from the pain. However, it seemed she was still struggling to control a function that had been dormant for quite some time, making everything feel sluggish. Her speech was also unclear, with a severe lisp.
Fortunately, at that moment, she wasn’t talking to anyone; she was just muttering to herself, so there was no need for anyone else to strain to understand.
After a long while, the small frame finally managed to prop itself up slightly, but it seemed she had also lost her sense of her hands, feet, and limbs. She struggled a bit to control her limbs, attempting to prop herself up three times before finally stabilizing half of her body.
Detecting her movements, the photoluminescent light automatically turned back on, and this time, the lights in the bedroom, three rows front and back, lit up, illuminating the room brightly.
The girl was suddenly blinded by bright light, instinctively squinting her eyes as her eyeballs felt a sharp pain.
Propping herself up slightly, her gaze was hazy, and her mind was still muddled, unable to distinguish between reality and illusion. Her brain felt empty, filled with a persistent buzzing sound.
Where… is this?
After a long while, her thoughts finally connected with her mind, and scenes from before she lost consciousness flashed before her eyes, followed by vast swathes of indistinct light and dark, chaotic and unclear, until she reached the moment she had just opened her eyes.
She couldn’t possibly have been electrocuted to death by a bowl of instant noodles, could she?
No, wait, would she even feel pain if she were dead? Ah, this really hurts too much.
The floor was cold, and she felt dampness on her back, chilling her. A strange metallic smell lingered at the tip of her nose, and her mouth was dry and painful. How severe was this that it made her feel like she had a cold immediately?
She should just sit up from the floor. Why did she feel a bit dizzy and disoriented? The back of her head was also numb, probably because she had just fallen backward and hit her head on the ground.
What terrible luck this was! Should she be grateful that she didn’t end up dead or damage her occipital lobe? After all, she still had relatively clear thoughts… Uh, she wasn’t so sure anymore. Could she have actually injured her occipital lobe?
Why does it feel like the layout of the room has changed so drastically? Please don’t let it be that her vision has been damaged, distorting her sense of normal spatial awareness… Otherwise, how could Jiang Hui feel like she doesn’t recognize her own home?
Jiang Hui widened her eyes and scanned her surroundings, staring blankly for a long time before she forcefully blinked.
No, this isn’t her room! Besides, she remembered being at the computer desk in the living room, and here—this is clearly a strange bedroom.
Where on earth is she? Who rescued her and brought her here? How did she end up lying on the floor for no reason… So many questions, Jiang Hui thought. She had only taken a nap; how could she wake up to find the entire world had changed?
Before she could continue figuring out the current situation, the lights suddenly went out, plunging everything back into darkness.
“×&%￥#@…” Jiang Hui expressed her frustration, realizing that when someone is down on their luck, even drinking cold water could get stuck in their teeth. What’s happening now? A power outage?
She didn’t understand, so she swayed and stood up, her calves trembling as her body felt heavy and laborious, relying on the side of something she couldn’t tell was a table or something else to help her stand.
In this extremely difficult situation, Jiang Hui finally managed to get up from the damned floor, and she wasn’t feeling as cold anymore. The room’s lights suddenly turned back on, illuminating the entire space.
Half a minute later, Jiang Hui looked around at this completely unfamiliar place, feeling lost. Now she could confirm that her occipital lobe wasn’t damaged and she wasn’t mistaken; this was simply not her home.
This was a very spacious room, about forty to fifty square meters, not counting the two side entrances that were partially concealed by stylishly designed doors, making it impossible to see what kind of layout was inside. Jiang Hui guessed they might lead to a bathroom or a walk-in closet, as the overall appearance was very spacious.
The walls were lined with long, grid-patterned white panels made of an unknown material. Under the light, they didn’t appear glaring; instead, they exuded a soft glow, giving off a sense of high-end design.
In the center of the room, the large bed had a simple color scheme. The bed frame was quite standard, and the bedding was dark and saturated, with the bed board extending out to a large wooden platform around it. Below that was the room’s overall wooden flooring, featuring subtle dark patterns. Opposite the platform, a large space was left open, draped with heavy curtains that seemed to resemble floor-to-ceiling windows. The curtains looked very thick, almost like they were made of silver embroidery, blocking out any light and preventing a view of the outside scenery.
There were also nightstands, a writing desk, a large floor-to-ceiling bookshelf, and some large decorations whose purpose was unclear… The owner of this room exuded an air of “I’m not short on money.”
This was probably the kind of style that Jiang Hui liked the most; she had once dreamed of decorating her room in this manner. If it weren’t for the current situation, she would probably be more than willing to step forward and admire it.
However, compared to appreciating a stranger’s room, Jiang Hui was more eager to find out what had happened. How did she wake up in such a completely unfamiliar place?
By the way, where exactly is this?